831 



With respect to the population of the island 

 of Saint Domingo (Haiti) I believe I have fixed 

 on an estimate sufficiently low. We possess 

 -partial statements of the official numeration, 

 circle by circle ; and considerations founded on 

 positive calculations lead us to conclude that 

 the population of Haiti may now attain 820,000. 

 Mr. Page, after the calamities of the colony in 

 1802, estimated both parts, French and Spanish, 

 at 500,000. Now, supposing r or the rate of an- 

 nual increase to be only 0.016 (which doubles 

 in forty-four years), I find for 1822, a popula- 

 tion of 686,800. If we admit a more rapid in- 

 crease, similar to that of the slave population 

 in the southern part of the United States 



=0,026, consequently a doubling in 27 years) 

 we obtain for 1822 a population of 835,500; 

 but how can it be believed that Mr. Page has 

 not estimated the population of 1802 too low ? 

 Necker admitted in 1 788, 520,000 in the French 

 part, and 620,000 in the whole island of Saint 

 Domingo. Many years of peace and tranquil- 

 lity have succeeded that period, interrupted by 

 some of disorder and carnage. Even the ma- 

 roon-negroes of Jamaica have augmented, de- 

 ducting from the number the fugitive slaves 

 who join them occasionally. It is more natural 

 to admit that, in an interval of fourteen years 

 (from 1788 to 1802,) the population has been 

 preserved at 600,000, notwithstanding the civil 



